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Cambridge student wins life-changing trip to Tanzania

Young students in Tanzania. Elliot Ross, 21, a Cambridge University student traveled to Tanzania to study Camfed's work in girls' education.

TANZANIA, 6 November 2008 – Twenty-one-year-old Cambridge University student Elliot Ross has just returned from a life-changing trip to Tanzania where he had the chance to observe firsthand how Camfed helps girls to stay in school.

The aspiring journalist from Edinburgh was chosen from hundreds of entrants across the UK in the Guardian International Development Journalism competition, organised in partnership with Camfed and seven of the UK’s other leading development charities.

Elliot’s article, which focuses on girls’ education in Tanzania, will appear in the Guardian in November.

“Seeing Camfed’s work has made me realize what can be achieved by a charity that is not afraid to think carefully and seriously about what it is doing and how best to go about it,” said Elliot, who spent seven days visiting Camfed’s programs in Tanzania.

“I hope I’ve learned a bit more about development,” he said. “I certainly have a better understanding of just how much there is to learn and have had many of my views strongly challenged. I’ve also seen how powerful feminism in Africa can be – and glimpsed how important it might become as a driver for change.”

Elliot, who is studying English at Cambridge and is a past editor of the Cambridge student newspaper Varsity, is now more convinced than ever that he would like to pursue a career in journalism. He is one of 16 finalists in the competition: eight in the amateur student category, and eight in the freelance professional section.

Phoebe Greenwood, a freelance journalist from London, was chosen in the professional category to report on Camfed’s work helping young women in the Samfya District of Zambia to achieve economic independence.

The 16 finalists’ articles – and the name of the two overall winners in each category – will be published in the Guardian in two supplements on Saturday, November 22 and Monday, November 24.

The UK government’s Department for International Development helped to fund the competition to raise awareness about development issues.Douglas Alexander, International Development Secretary, said: “This competition has motivated a new generation of journalists to write about issues relating to global poverty.”